Mira nearly dropped the cheese wheel she was holding when her friend took her by the shoulders like that. Not because was opposed to being touched, but because of how far out of Simon's character it was for him to touch anyone in the first place! Well, unless he was fitting someone for an outfit or doing alterations for them, of course. Personal comfort had always come second to his professional pursuits, come to think of it.
"S-Simon! Good Goddess, man! Get a hold of yourself! W-What in damnation's got into you, anyhow?!"
And that is when it all came spilling from Simon's lips. It was like standing in the wake of a tsunami, crashing upon the shore of her consciousness. How he had been summoned by the vampire noble for tea at the castle, much to do about the newly found cuff link and how it had made its way back into his possession, the feelings he didn't understand, the guilt, the obsession-
Mira shook her head with a small smile. It was a good thing that she had a few thousand years up on her young friend. To think that the human believed this event was the end of his world, when it might as well have just been the beginning. After all, what else would you call a crush?
"Like I said, he appeared behind me-"
"Simon."
"And pulled the cuff link from my hat! Is it true magic or simply sleight of hand?"
"Simon!"
"I don't remember if he walked me out, though, I think my brain simply disconnected by that point-"
"SIMON!"
The tailor paused and blinked at her, like she was the one who had gone mad, instead of him!
"Goodness, Mira, you don't have to shout! I'm right here! I can hear you just fine."
The elf rolled her eyes at that.
"Can I talk now?"
"Of course," Simon said, finding some of his usual sense and composure, "Please, tell me what you make of this. And what you know of Alabaster Stone."
Mira claimed a chair nearby, setting the cheese aside. It would be hard to be taken seriously holding onto that thing for this talk, after all.
"Alright. First off, the vampire hierarchy is a lot more complicated than the elvish one. It's not whoever is the oldest and the wisest that gets the position. Instead, it's all based on power and prestige. And the Crystal Vampire is a big part of that."
"The what?"
"The Crystal Vampire," she repeated, "Just from what you told me about your friend's abilities, I believe that's who you met. Although, being able to read thoughts? That's a new one. Then again, since he only gets stronger with every iteration, I guess that only makes sense. The mind's kind of like the final frontier. Maybe that's the way he changed this time."
The tailor shook his head.
"Mira, you're not making any sense. I know that you've been around for a thousand years longer than I have and that this is probably all yesterday's news to you, but I'm going to have to ask you to slow down."
The elf sighed, before cutting a piece of cheese off the wheel with her knife, before taking a big, unapologetic bite.
"Sometimes I think you humans don't know nothin'."
"Compared to the elves? We don't," the human said with an irritated narrowing of his eyes, "Now, if you're quite finished waving your superiority in my face, kindly grace me with your knowledge; what is the Crystal Vampire, Mira?"
"In the purest sense? A wanderer."
The human raised an eyebrow at that. So much for getting his answers! Now, even more questions were piled up on top of the heap! Still, he needed to be patient. He could tell that this was a big story with many ins, outs, twists and turns. It would come to him in time.
"What do you mean by.. a wanderer?"
Mira rose from her seat only to dig into his ice box to pull out a jug of crisp milk.
"Mira!"
So much for having patience.
"Hey! If I'm gonna talk about all this heavy stuff, I'm gonna need a tall glass of milk! Besides, gotta have something to wash all this cheese down with. You need to learn a little patience, anyways. It's good for ya."
Simon rolled his eyes, before removing his hat and tussling his brown locks. The moment he did, the hair he forcefully tamed down everyday to blend in with the noble class, sprung out in almost every conceivable direction. Mira smiled when she saw it. Her friend tried to act so mature and above everything; like a true, blue-blooded gentleman. But, she liked him like this, best. He was still young, whether he believed it or not. She wished he would act like it more.
"The reason he's a wander," she continued after a few deep gulps of the creamy beverage, "is because the Crystal Vampire keeps coming back to this plane of existence.. even after death."
"Even after death.. So, reincarnation exists, after all?"
"Hm, not sure about that for everybody else. But, it sure does for him," the elf said with a shrug, before wiping off her milk mustache with the back of her hand, prompting Simon to produce a handkerchief from his pocket, offering it to her, only for it to be pushed away.
'Typical Mira,' he tsked, before tucking it away.
"Why does he keep coming back to Earth? On second thought, a better question is, why does he even die in the first place? He is a vampire! They live forever, if undisturbed, do they not?!"
"No one but Alabaster Stone, himself, knows the answer to your first question. As for the second, well, that's true of most vampires. Hell, most elves, too, for that matter! A little grub and nothing too hazardous happening to us and we can live for eons! Some of us already have!"
She ate more cheese, before Simon cut her off, taking the remaining wheel from her, much to the sassy elves' noises of protest and moaning despair.
"No more cheese for you. It can't possibly be good for your system. Do you really want to be all bound up?"
"Jeez, MOM!" she said, jabbing at the other's hen-like tendencies.
Couldn't a thousand year old elf even do what she wanted?!
"I will make some eggs on toast for you, instead," Simon said in a monotone retort, "Do continue."
He rolled up his sleeves, before carefully putting the cuff link on the counter, far away from the sink as he washed his hands. If there was one thing Simon believed in, it was cleanliness in the kitchen.
"Vampires are a little more fragile, but mostly unharmed by the flow of time," Mira announced as she idly watched the young man crack eggs into a pan, "As long as they can find shelter from sunlight and get a few mouthfuls of blood in here or there, they tend to be good. Oh and as long as they stay as far away from silver as possible, of course!"
"That doesn't explain why Alabaster keeps dying again and again; if he is who you say he is."
Mira sighed heavily, pushing away her half empty glass of milk.
"I know why, though I wish I didn't. This is where things get sad, kid. I'm afraid that your vampire friend isn't long for this world."
He felt a pang in his heart at the news, causing him to hover the knife in his hand right above the bread, before finally making a few, fresh slices for Mira.
"What in the devil do you mean by that?"
"Simon.. The Crystal Vampire is terminal. He's born that way."
He glanced back at the she-elf, only for her to motion toward the meal, which his hesitation was burning. He gasped as he pulled the eggs off of the fire and pushed the toast from the rack, onto a plate, even burning his fingers a little in the process, prompting her to wince on his behalf.
Still, to his credit, he said nothing after the initial hiss. He put the plate together with a little salt and pepper, before setting it in front of her and topping it off with a cool glass of water. A first aid kit was pulled from the top shelf, as he worked to get some aloe on his index and middle finger.
"A person can't be born terminal, Mira," he said in a much quieter voice, "That makes no sense."
"No? Then what would you call a human? Because from the second they're born, everyone around them knows they're gonna die one day."
That earned her a glare from over Simon's shoulder.
"Too much?"
"Yes. Considering my life is already half over. So, are you saying that Alabaster Stone is like a human? He is born, he lives and he dies of old age in a similar fashion to us?"
"Ha! If only his fate could be so merciful! No. He dies in a flurry of sparkling stardust."
"How would you know that?" the young man asked as he lowered himself down in a chair, trying to tie bandages on his two injured fingers.
"Because I saw it happen. Right in front of me. Which only makes sense. I'm the one who killed one of his incarnations, after all."
"You.. You, what?!"
The bandages went tumbling from the his shock. Mira sighed, picking the reel up from the floor, before striding over to her friend.
"It was war, Simon. I had no choice," the elf said, as she began to treat his hand, "Not when the emperor of the vampires was using the wanderer as a weapon of destruction against us at the time. I plunged my spear deep into his heart. But.. I always felt regret. He smiled at me as he began to break apart. I think.. he was happy to escape his fate that lifetime. The Crystal Vampire is not traditionally known as a fighter. More of a peace keeper. Which makes me think that the emperor had something on him. Something he could control him with. But, it didn't matter. It was plain to see that he was going to die soon, anyways. He looked like he was in a lot of pain."
Simon looked down at his bandaged appendages with a sadness that he usually managed to keep far from his face. Mira wished that she hadn't had to bring such misery to her friend. Goddess knows he had been through enough in his short time on Earth to last a life time. But, she also knew that knowledge was power and that Simon was going to need some to fully understand what he was getting into, if he decided to get any closer to Alabaster Stone.
"..I feel drawn to him, Mira," Simon confessed at last, "I don't know why. He is infuriating. Insufferable. And a vampire. Even after learning all of this.. I hope that I see him again. Is that.. Is that wrong of me?"
"Simon. You're a good person whose got a very tender heart-"
"A tender heart that shouldn't care, after everything that-!"
Simon slammed his burnt hand down on the table with force, gritting his teeth. The pain was appreciated at this point. It was self imposed punishment for these feelings that were forbidden and very much preferable to the pain that was now burning in his chest like red, hot coals. He rose from the table, before striding toward the window, looking down at the street below.
"I will make his suit for him. But, otherwise, I will avoid Alabaster for the duration of his stay in this kingdom. After what happened to my mother and sister, I can't forgive the vampires. I won't."
"Simon. I'm pretty sure that Alabaster's not the one who killed them-"
"I care not for the content of his character," Simon said with a cold edge to his voice, "He's a VAMPIRE, Mira. That's reason enough for me to hold a grudge."